What you're watching

'Heroes': On set and counting down

August 11, 2008 | 3:17
pm

We walked onto the smoke-filled set of what was once Claire Bennett's and HRG's home. Things had changed. There were kids' toys around, childlike drawings ... and the Bennetts no longer occupied the space. Someone else that we know does live there ... and Claire's not happy about it.

That's about all we want to say. A visit into a near-future storyline comes with all kinds of "Do not say thises" and "Can't say thats" along with the "No camera or video allowed" disclaimers, but it's exciting nonetheless.

The feeling on the set was one of fun and business. The occasional "rubber gun on set!" yelled out, knowing glances among cast and crew mates, a Watchmen comic-book compilation being read backstage ... all seemed old hat to this bunch.

The actors are surprisingly engaged and helpful when planning out fight scenes and bridging dialogue gaps that may help it along. And the producers and directors are surprisingly OK with letting them run with it. And, yes, I did say fight scene -- one which, oddly enough, led to a reference for the Vin Diesel movie "The Chronicles of Riddick." Watch it, figure it out -- I know you can.

On set were main players Hayden Panettiere, Milo Ventimiglia, Brea Grant, Jamie Hector and Zachary Quinto. We were given a little time to speak to a couple of the actors. Brea Grant, who had a short but memorable stint on "Friday Night Lights," and Zachary Quinto, the coolness that is Sylar and Spock.

A little ball of Texas fun, Brea Grant said that it was "kind of daunting" joining the "Heroes" cast but prepared herself for her super-speed role well, being the "nerd" that she is.

"I read a bunch of Flash comics, and now I have about this many (spreads her arms about three feet apart). I tried to watch the Flash TV series, but it was really bad."

As a bad-girl character, Brea admits that she's done a little research in that part as well, long before the role came calling.

"I will admit that I probably stole something as a teen ... but I don't know, I'm kind of a goodie-goodie. I did shave my head once ... but I asked my dad."

She does enjoy the powers that she has in the show and wishes she had them off the set.

"If I had it [super speed] in real life ... it'd be amazing. My room would always be clean. I'd never run out of cereal..."

But if she had a less spectacular ability?

"I need poise. I'm just so clumsy that it would kind of save me a lot."

Someone who rarely needs saving is Sylar. Our talk with Z. Quinto was brief, and though he was currently in his "softer side" of Syler mode, which definitely had something to do with his cute, race car pajama-wearing co-star that was on set, he gave us a little insight into this season's monster (though he's not telling who his baby's mama is).

"The great thing about my character this year is that he's all over the map in terms of his internal conflict. The sort of orders that he's given by certain people who have power over him this season and the situations that that puts him in really, really force him to employ a kind of restraint that you haven't seen him necessarily need to employ."

Before rushing back to the set, he also spoke briefly about the show returning and the some of the behind-the-scenes emotions.

"It feels like it's emerging into itself. ... I think that the time that we had away from the show made us that much more grateful to come back and that much more excited to come back 'cause it's been so long since we've been on the air."